Chapter 4: The Call Before Dawn
My phone rang at 6:14 a.m.
I was already awake.
I had been awake since five, sitting at the kitchen table with the encrypted drive in front of me and a cup of coffee I hadn't touched.
Julian had left early for a breakfast meeting downtown, and Emma was still asleep upstairs.
The number on the screen was one I didn't recognize.
I answered anyway.
"Evelyn." It was Chloe.
I said nothing.
"I know you're there," she said.
"I need two minutes.
Please."
The please surprised me enough that I stayed on the line.
"Marcus doesn't know I'm calling," she said.
Her voice was different from the night before.
The performance was gone.
"He was on the phone until three in the morning.
I heard enough to know what he's planning."
"Then say it."
"He's going to go after your license." A short pause.
"He has a contact at the state bar.
Someone he's used before.
He's going to file a complaint claiming you misappropriated confidential financial documents during the marriage.
He'll argue the drive was obtained illegally and that you've been holding it as leverage."
My hand tightened around the phone.
"He thinks if he can get your license suspended — even temporarily — it discredits you as a witness and delays the SEC referral long enough for him to restructure." She exhaled.
"He said it buys him six months.
Maybe more."
"Why are you telling me this?"
Silence.
Then: "Because I've watched him do this before.
To someone else.
And I didn't say anything that time." Another pause, longer.
"I'm not doing that again."
I looked at the drive on the table.
"Chloe.
If you know what's on those records, and you help him suppress them, you become part of it."
"I know."
"Are you willing to make a statement?
To Julian's legal team?"
The silence stretched long enough that I thought she'd hung up.
"Yes," she said finally.
"But not today.
I need to get some things together first.
Documents he doesn't know I have."
"What kind of documents?"
"The kind that show the bar complaint isn't the first time he's done this." Her voice dropped.
"There was a woman before me.
Before you, even.
He destroyed her career to protect himself.
I have the correspondence."
I stood up from the table.
"Don't go anywhere," I said.
"I'm calling Julian's attorney right now.
His name is Daniel Reeves.
He will treat you fairly."
"Evelyn." Her voice caught.
"I'm sorry.
For all of it.
For what I did to your marriage.
I know that doesn't fix anything."
I didn't tell her it was fine, because it wasn't.
But I also didn't hang up.
"Get the documents," I said.
"That's what matters right now."
I ended the call and stood in my quiet kitchen for a moment.
Then I picked up the drive, walked to my home office, and called Daniel Reeves.
He answered on the second ring.
"I have the historical records," I said.
"And I may have a witness.
But Marcus is moving fast.
How quickly can you file a protective motion on my license?"
"Give me an hour," Daniel said.
May you like
"You have thirty minutes," I said.
"He's already started."
